The Cambodian economic experience is a tragic one because it took so many wrong turns and had such poor luck. Looking back, the Sihanouk years were a mixture of failures beneath small victories. The educational system failed in its mission to educate in fields that would propel the economy, and the government failed to create incentives for individuals to save. It is true that austerity measures are bitter pills to take, but for a very ill patient like Cambodia's economy, there was no alternative treatment. The Royal Government of Cambodia, especially during the early 1960s--when there was still great potential for development--did not have the gumption to levy tariffs on imports that were clearly draining foreign exchange reserves. The chronic trade deficits, despite sometimes excellent rice exporting years, were elements of contradictory economic times. These contradictions reached critical mass, to use a favorite Marxist axiom, just as the bordering war in Vietnam spilled into Cambodia.
While nothing done during the 1950s or 1960s could have mitigated the economic catastrophe of the Democratic Kampuchea period (1975-1978), the Sihanouk reign was a sad backdrop to a period that could have otherwise seen an economy priming its agricultural pump. Though Vickery would likely take exception to such optimism, the 1950s and 1960s could have been decades of sustained and balanced growth. Instead, they were at best mediocre years.